Call Of Duty: Ghosts Bags $1 Billion Through Retail Channels In First 24-Hours Of Availability

In the 24-hours following the launch of Call of Duty: Ghosts the title has managed to bring in more than $1 billion in revenue through retail sales channels, breaking the record set by Grand Theft Auto 5 for reaching that same number in 3 days. The game’s publisher, Activision, has lifted the lid on first day sales figures in a publicly released press statement and announced that the whopping income has been accumulated through worldwide sales of the title into retail stores.

Call of Duty: Ghosts is the latest installment in the extremely popular Call of Duty franchise and only hit stores on Tuesday, 5th November. A large number of gamers and industry analysts have criticized Activision and Infinity Ward for what they see as regurgitated content and lack of innovation with this latest title, but that sentiment doesn’t seem to be shared by the millions who flocked out yesterday to be amongst the first to play the game. In addition to the impressive sales figures, Activision is also being lyrical about the millions of gamers that are already enjoying Ghosts online and the fact that the title now sits at the number one spot in the Xbox LIVE charts.

Bobby Kotick – who operates as Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard – was more than enthusiastic about his company’s successes with the Call of Duty franchise, "Call of Duty is by far the largest console franchise of this generation, more people have played Call of Duty this year than ever before, logging four billion hours of gameplay". With millions of gamers rushing out yesterday to get the latest iteration of the first-person shooter it’s highly likely that those 4 billion hours of gameplay will increase dramatically in the coming months.

The same Activision press statement has also confirmed that those getting involved in Ghosts seem to have a deeper interest in the game that manifests itself with longer sessions. Average player sessions for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 are on average a lot longer than for the same period when gamers were first getting their hands on Modern Warfare 3 or Black Ops II. Activision will be hoping that the increased desire to stay active in the gamer for longer will ultimately turn into additional digital sales for the franchise.

The latest and so-called greatest offering in the Call of Duty franchise is currently available on Sony’s PlayStation 3, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Nintendo’s Wii U and Windows powered PCs. The next-generation versions of the game will be available alongside the launch of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in the coming days and weeks.